The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying the public his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size compared to the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the present calculation of casualties due to his slashing to international aid amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis projected his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' into 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed across decades while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into a figure of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in the Gospel; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Savior that I grew up with, as conceptually Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness about him since they are non-believers or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that exist valuable insights of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a mighty king arising; rather, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to avoid covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his message focuses on affection for others, specifically for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to present the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you should give the person your additional clothing too.
The apparent and straightforward fact that the Jesus of the gospels requests a type of radical love focused on the needy is what has always made Christianity rather a scandalous religion: engaging for the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be contained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so widespread that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
So I have been encouraged to witness the persistent defiance to Trump develop during the previous year. It has provided great solace to help build the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We shall require to persist with it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags throughout each rally and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, through connection to the highest within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and wonderful, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In neither case does it suggest pretending the most negative regarding America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both modesty and belief, a combination that serious national faithful should embrace.
